Mid June Update

posted onJune 22, 2010

Well, a little after mid-June, but better late than never…

The “summer slump” has officially arrived and sales are down all over the place. I’ve had zero sales at ClipCanvas and MediaStock this month. ShutterStock sales are down 80% from last month. And Pond5 sales are down nearly 30% from last month. The only bright spot is RevoStock. They updated their pricing to be much more flexible and I was finally able to match pricing from Pond5, so I’ve sold a little more than double the number of clips over last month. Of course, RevoStock sales had almost no place to go but up… Still it’s good news during another dismal summer.

Speaking of dismal summer, my air conditioning woes continue. The room where my computer is located was added on to the house, so it has inadequate ventilation. And it ends up being the hottest room in the house during the summer. Unfortunately, we’ve got a full house, so I can’t move my computer any place else. Which means, for now, I can’t work on my computer during the day. So, I either have to find other things to do, or work at night and sleep during the day.

Although I can’t run my computer much during the day, I have managed to create about 30 new animations so far this month. And I’ve been all over Kansas shooting video with my T2i (which I absolutely love). I’m still not getting as much new stuff online as I should, however.

I am hoping to take a short trip to Houston, TX in the next few days to visit family. If I am able to make the trip I also plan on meeting a good friend and taking a day or two to drive over to Louisiana and get some footage of the oil spill mess. If that doesn’t work out, then I’ll be working on some new people clips I’ve been planning for a couple of months.

Oh! I took a DSLR camera class for newbies at a local portrait studio in town. I didn’t learn much that was new, but what I did learn was very valuable. And some of the things I “already knew” were confirmed by the expert. So I’m feeling much better about myself. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a hands on class, but the studio is putting together a small hands on class for July which I’m thinking about taking.

I’m working on a new blog entry for iSyndica which is a follow-up to my initial T2i/550D review. Now that I have practical experience with it, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned. I also promised them a review of an iPhone app or two which I haven’t completed yet, so I’m going to try and get those done as soon as I get back from my trip.

One Response to “Mid June Update”

I just started contributing to microstock back in April. Since my portfolio is so new I can’t compare sales from season to season. I only know my sales over the past 30 days from a portfolio that currently varies between about 35 and 75 images equal about $50…this is spread over 4 sites. This is certainly enough money to encourage me to keep going. The thought that this is the slow season and that sales may pick up in the winter is nice as well! Thank you for your blog.